Food and FarmingSe June Han and Lisa Kim

Basic Farming

Crops of Nigeria: Corn, Rice, Yams, Cocoa, Peanuts, Cassava and Sorghum

The farming uses about 70% of the country’s labor force

Farms make 80% of the food from 30% of Nigeria’s land

Diverse climate and water supports tropical crops

Peanuts and Cocoa

Nigeria produces 11% of the world’s peanuts

Nigeria had potential to produce large amounts of cocoa but urbanization cut the labor force

Nigeria produces 5% of world’s cocoa when its potential is about 10%

Mostly traded to European nations

Yams

The tuber parts of yams can grow to 2.5 meters and 70kg

Nigeria the largest producer of yams. Producing about 70~76% of the world’s yams

Weeding, planting, staking and harvesting makes the production of yams hard

Expensive but scarce labor force increased its price

Different species from sweet potato New Yam Festival celebrated in August by offering yams to gods and distributing among people

Are planted with sisal rings for moisture

Kola Nuts (Cola)

A common tree in Africa that is bitter and contains caffeine

Were used for Coca – Cola

Some tribes give the nuts to children for protection

Some tribes pass and bite it to wish long life in marriage

Contains high amounts of toxic material

Pictures

Major Food

Puff - Puff: frying a dough mixture into circular balls dipped in sugar

Suya: Pieces of meat spiced up and baked over a grill with vegetables

Fun fun: made by drying cassava and making it into a powder. Then it is mixed into boiling water to a smooth texture

Yam Food

Ojoj o: Water yams are cut up and fried in oil

Asaro: Yams are peeled and cubed and cooked with ground tomatoes, peppers, meat and spices

Amala: Ground and dried the yams and then boiled in water until it has a smooth structure

Questions

Why would yams have become a more delicious luxury instead of an everyday meal?

Why would the foods mostly include boiling in hot waters?

Why might have Nigeria failed to achieve their full potential for cocoa?

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